CES 2019: Pimax Showcases Open-Palm Controllers, Hand & Eye-Tracking

Pimax, the Chinese VR technology company responsible for the first commercially available 4K VR headset, was center-stage at CES this morning presenting the latest production versions of their new Pimax 5K & 8K ultrawide VR headsets alongside their knuckles-style open-palm motion controllers.

Now, thanks to partnerships with Leap Motion and 7invensun, Pimax is introducing additional functionality in the form of both hand and eye-tracking.

Beginning today, all models of the Pimax 5K Plus, 8K, and 5K BE headsets will include Leap Motion embedded modules. This component allows for high quality hand-tracking across a generous 180-degree field-of-view; pairing nicely with the Pimax’s equally impressive 200-degree FoV.

Pimax is working alongside 7invensun and NVIDIA to reduce GPU load power in order to fight dizziness as well as increase viewing performance. One of the ways they’ve decided to go about this is through foveated rendering via eye-tracking functionality, a technology which Pimax will be demoing on the showfloor.

Image Credit: Pimax VR

Finally, there’s the open-palm Pimax motion controllers, compatible with the Pimax 8K as well as Steam VR tracking 1.0 and 2.0. Pimax will offer two version of the controller; one featuring a sleek trackpad, the other a more conventional thumbstick. Both renditions will be available for demo during the 4-day event.

“As a contributor to the industry, we are eager to work with our partners to integrate more innovative technologies into our headsets and make these features easily accessible,” states Kevin Henderson, Head of US Operations of Pimax VR, in an official release. “We want to provide world-leading technologies to our community and users with a highly effective global customer service and support system and help VR enthusiasts realize their dreams in VR.”

Image Credit: Pimax VR

While it should be noted that many of these features were supposed to be included in the initial crowdfund release, it is exciting to see these long-awaited features finally make their way to the much-talked about headsets.

“Science fiction stories like Minority Report and more recently Ready Player One gave us a glimpse into the future for immersive experiences and UI control,” adds Kevin. “Today we’re ready to prove that era is closer than ever before by bringing VR 2.0 to the industry.”

“As a contributor to VR 2.0, we are closely working with our partners to bring innovation to the industry and finally give VR enthusiasts and gamers what they have been dreaming of.”